King Sombra
King Sombra is one of the main antagonists of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. He appears as the main antagonist of Season 3's premiere The Crystal Empire and of Season 9's premiere The Beginning of the End. History Past King Sombra was a powerful unicorn whose heart is said to be as black as night. He took control of the Crystal Empire and enslaved the crystal ponies before Celestia and Luna overthrew him, turning him to shadow and banishing him to the Arctic North, disappearing into a crevice of ice which closed up. However, he foresaw this defeat and placed a curse upon the Crystal Empire that caused it to disappear for a thousand years. Season 3 The Crystal Empire In "The Crystal Empire", the Crystal Empire reappears, but the crystal ponies have no memory of their kingdom before Sombra took over, and the mere memory of him causes them pain. Sombra returns along with the Crystal Empire and tries to conquer it again, but Princess Cadance was able to cast a protection spell around it which kept him out. When Twilight Sparkle and her friends came to the Crystal Empire to protect it, Sombra chased after them in shadow form, but they got through the barrier, although he attacked Shining Armor he survived, but his horn was cursed so that he could not use his magic. When Cadance began to run out of power to perform the spell, the barrier briefly deactivated, allowing Sombra to invade. Sombra's horn was broken off as the barrier reactivated, and he transformed it into a dark crystal which began to create more dark crystals in the Crystal Empire. Twilight and Spike searched for the Crystal Heart, the key to protecting the empire, inside the castle, where nopony would dare to look. They ran into a door enchanted by Sombra to hypnotize them into confronting their worst fears. In Twilight's case, she thought Celestia told her that she failed her test and wouldn't continue her studies, only for Spike to snap her out of the trance. Spike gets brainwashed too and thought Twilight was banishing him, but Twilight saw through the enchanted door's purpose and shuts it, releasing Spike from the spell and comforting him about his fear. Eventually, they reached the Crystal Heart, but Sombra, was finally able to enter once Cadance was no longer able to perform her spell, trapping Twilight in a wall of dark crystals, keeping her from the Crystal Heart once she triggers a trap. With no way out, Twilight entrusts Spike to take the Crystal Heart to Cadance. Returning to his physical form, Sombra tried to spear Spike with a dark crystal, but Cadance saved him from the attack. She then returned the Crystal Heart, and together with the crystal ponies used its power to unleash a wave of magic that restored the Crystal Empire and destroyed Sombra, shattering him to pieces. King Sombra was briefly referenced in the episode, "Games Ponies Play". Twilight also briefly uses his magic in "Princess Twilight Sparkle". Season 5 The Cutie Re-Mark In "The Cutie Re-Mark - Part 1", the first of many alternate timelines temporarily created by Starlight Glimmer, King Sombra is in power and ruling over the Crystal Empire with the iron hoof, having never been killed by Princess Cadance due to the change in timeline, he made the crystal ponies fight for him against the rest of Equestria, fighting a war with Celestia. He was winning the war as he managed to take half of Equestria. Season 6 The Crystalling King Sombra was mentioned again couple of times in the Season 6 premiere "The Crystalling". Spike mentions King Sombra while telling the Crystal Ponies about how he was defeated. Twilight later reveals the reason that King Sombra merely hid the Crystal Heart in his castle is to prevent the Frozen Norths weather from breaching the Empire. This explains why Sombra never destroyed the Crystal Heart in the first place. Season 7 Shadow Play In the season finale, "Shadow Play", Pinkie Pie mentions Sombra while recounting the threats Equestria has faced over the last thousand years to Star Swirl the Bearded. Season 9 The Beginning of the End In "The Beginning of the End", King Sombra is revived by Grogar and is summoned to his lair, where Queen Chrysalis, Lord Tirek, and Cozy Glow accuse him of being the one who summoned them there. However, Grogar reveals himself as being the one to summon them, much to the villains' astonishment, as they had all thought he was a legend (with the exception of Cozy Glow, who had never heard of him before). Grogar proceeds to tell the group of his plans to eliminate Twilight Sparkle and her friends and demonstrates his power by giving Tirek enough magic to partially revive his strength, also causing him to tell Cozy Glow of the stories that he had heard of Grogar when he was younger and for Sombra to do the same afterwards. Grogar goes on to state that he's been watching over all of them and asks them why they think that they've always been beaten by the same six ponies, Chrysalis interrupting Sombra before he can respond. Grogar rebuffs all of their answers and points out that the Mane 6 have always won because they work as a team, and demands that they all do the same in order to take over Equestria. However, Sombra refuses to join Grogar, claiming that he will take the Crystal Empire back for himself and destroy anyone who gets in his way. Unphased by this, Grogar tells Sombra to go and try to take over the Empire again, even offering to transport him there on the conditions that he can keep it if he succeeds, but will serve him once he fails, claiming he will destroy him again if he refuses to abide by his terms. Sombra agree and proceeds to arrogantly proclaim how he will overtake the Empire, before an annoyed Grogar whisks him away. Sombra proceeds to lay siege to the Crystal Empire with ease, brainwashing the crystal ponies and royal guards into serving him as he approaches the castle. Inside, Princess Cadence sends out a message to Twilight before she and Shining Armor notice that Flurry Heart is missing and find her in Sombra's clutches. Sombra then forces Shining Armor and Cadence to surrender, capturing the Crystal Heart and fully taking over the Crystal Empire afterwards. Upon receiving Cadence's message and summoning her friends, Twilight decides to retrieve the Elements of Harmony from the Tree of Harmony to defeat Sombra. Back at the Empire, Sombra is seen relaxing on his throne, amused by Flurry Heart's attempts at attacking him, only for the Mane 6 to arrive to challenge him. Unconcerned, Sombra forces his opponents to endure their own worst fears (making Twilight see a vision of all of her friends being controlled by Sombra while Princess Celestia and Luna show disappointment in her, turning them into Nightmare Moon and Daybreaker as a result), and suggests that they should surrender, as nothing can beat their own fears. However, Twilight and the others overpower Sombra's visions with the Elements, revealing that they were only facing their fears long enough for Spike to free his captives. Cadence then reclaims the Crystal Heart and uses it to dispel Sombra's influence from the Empire, freeing everyone from his control. In spite of this, Sombra proclaims that he will win in the end, before being seemingly destroyed by the Elements. Having saved the Empire again, Twilight and the Mane 6 return the Elements to the tree, only for Sombra to appear and destroy both. Sombra reveals that his supposed demise back at the Crystal Empire was merely a ruse to fool the Mane 6 in so that he could trace them back to their source of power and destroy it; and now that he has done so, they will be unable to stop him. Despite this, the Mane 6, minus a disheartened Twilight, try to fight back against him, only for Sombra to imprison them all, realizing that, with them out of the way, he can conquer all of Equestria for himself, planning to overtake Ponyville first. Sombra then considers using his magic to brainwash the Mane 6 as well, but decides against it, as he is already forcing them to endure their worst fear by taking control of Equestria anyway before leaving. Sombra goes on to brainwash all of Ponyville — including Spike, Starlight Glimmer, the Cutie Mark Crusaders and the Mane 6's other friends—into becoming his slaves and takes them to conquer Canterlot, while the Mane 6 are forced to deal with the Everfree Forest's overgrowth thanks to the Tree's destruction. Sombra storms Canterlot with ease thanks to his brainwashed army, and barges into the Princess' throne room, only to find that it is empty, making him believe that Celestia and Luna had run away from him in fear. Soon, the Mane 6 arrive in the Princess' throne room with Discord and engage Sombra, who attempts to blast them with magic. However, Discord dispels all of Sombra's attacks with ease while commenting that, even though he expected Twilight and the others to handle things by themselves, they still win because he is their friend, though in doing so he accidentally prompts Sombra to target Fluttershy instead, making Discord take the blast for her. Sombra gloats at his victory and begins to decide how he will eliminate the rest of his enemies, while, at the same time, Discord gives his friends a heartfelt speech about how they don't need him or the Elements to beat Sombra since all they have ever needed to win is each other. Disregarding Discord's claims, Sombra attacks the Mane 6, who, now inspired, begin to fight back, generating more magic that ever. Baffled, Sombra demands to know how the Mane 6 have the ability to stand up to him even when he destroyed the source of their power, although Twilight claims that he never did, with her and the others reminding him that friendship is magic, before using their power to destroy him once again and remove his influence from Equestria. Later, Celestia and Luna return from fending off the Everfree Forest and state that they will hold off on making Twilight and her friends the new rulers of Equestria until Twilight feels she is ready, causing Discord to reveal that he faked his injuries in an effort to push Twilight to become the great leader he knows she is, additionally revealing that he could have defeated Sombra any time he wanted. Back at Grogar's lair, Tirek and Chrysalis ask him about how Sombra's plan went, and Grogar shows them that he had been defeated yet again. Choosing not to revive him a second time, Grogar uses Sombra's destruction as an example to the others of what happens when they try to abandon his plans, making them nervously agree to serve him. Legacy King Sombra is mentioned a few times in the episode, "Uprooted". He is also mentioned in "Sparkle's Seven", where it is shown that Princesses Celestia and Luna decided to have Shining Armor increase security in Canterlot following Sombra's previous attack on it. In "She's All Yak", Sandbar lists King Sombra and Cozy Glow as two ponies worse than Yona. He is briefly mentioned in "The Last Crusade" by Mane Allgood, who lists him as one of the main reasons why she and her husband Snap Shutter decided to come to Ponyville and spend time with their daughter, Scootaloo. In "The Ending of the End - Part 1", Sombra is mentioned a number of times when it is revealed that Discord had been posing as Grogar and was using him and the other villains to create a threat that would push Twilight and her friends into becoming confident rulers of Equestria. In "The Ending of the End - Part 2", Twilight has a picture of Sombra included in a thought chart when trying to come up with a way to defeat Tirek, Queen Chrysalis and Cozy Glow. Relationships Mac Grimborn Since entering Mac's mind, King Sombra discovered his dark memories and torments. Then he makes plans for him so that he can help him defeat Chancellor Neighsay and the Equestria Educational Association. Twilight Sparkle Goals *Take over the Crystal Empire (failed) *Conquer Equestria (failed) Trivia *He is best friends with the Pony of Shadows. *In Return of the Sith, he is revealed as Darth Vader. *In Lloyd Garmadon's Adventures of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, the only villain he was willing to work alongside with was the Overlord. Gallery Season 3 Season 5 Season 9 Category:Males Category:Villains Category:Kings Category:Shrek's Adventure Villains Category:Non-Disney Characters Category:My Little Pony characters Category:Non-Disney Villains Category:Revived Villains Category:Deceased Villains Category:Lightsabermen Category:The Sith Category:Characters Category:Magical characters Category:Unicorns Category:Swordsmen Category:Keepers of a Secret Identity Category:VILLAINS Category:The Shadow Collective